It used to be better, remote I feel is better in Seattle but the hidden costs of being in the Seattle region involve possible commute, car purchase and the general RTA, fragmented neighborhoods, public transit is improving but nothing near what is nyc. Housing… I feel is cheaper in nyc, food across the board is much more inexpensive in much. Hotels are varied and more inexpensive in nyc.
One thing I have enjoyed is time zone differences. 3 hours difference is a lot and if you can balance that you can have a wonderful Seattle afternoon.
Problem is winter sucks in PNW.
And that number hasn't budged in decades. It is a completely ossified community. There's the folks who bought their houses 20-30 years ago and stayed put thanks to prop 17, their adult children living with them waiting for them to die, the young single tech workers willing to fork out 3k for a studio or live with roommates, the 300k+ earning public service employees, and the rest of the non-tech workers resigned to the crime-ridden pockets of the east/south bay that can still be afforded with an entire family's income. That's basically the entire population.
You can't out-build yourself out of high living costs.
The only way to fix this is to start taxing dense office space as if it's toxic waste sites. And promote remote work to re-invigorate smaller cities.
By that definition they use, the leader in "tech" employment is simply the metro with the most employees.
The current rate for a two bedroom in most of SF is approaching $6000/month right now. Apartments at $5000 have lines of applicants. My partner and I are paying about half that for our apartment... and we haven't lived here that long.
If we were trying to move here for work now, we absolutely wouldn't be able to afford it.
dang•27m ago
PLenz•23m ago
dang•17m ago